The present invention relates to the field of cutter mechanisms for label and receipt printers. More specifically, the present invention relates to a cutter mechanism that can be configured based on the width of a paper roll present in the printer and corresponding methods for configuring a cutter mechanism.
Printers that print from paper rolls require a cutter to separate the printed portion from the remainder of the roll. Such printers include label printers, ticket printers, receipt printers, and the like (collectively referred to herein as “label and receipt printers”). Various types of cutters are known for label and receipt printers, including rotary or “pizza-type” cutters.
However, typical label and receipt printers are configured to accept a single size of paper roll. With such printers, there is no need to program or configure a cutter mechanism for different paper widths.
The Assignee of the present invention, TransAct Technologies Inc., is developing a printer that can be configured to accept paper rolls of different widths. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a configurable cutter mechanism that can be automatically configured for cutting paper rolls of different widths. In particular, it would be advantageous to provide a cutter mechanism that can be configured to control a length of travel of a movable cutter element, such as a rotary cutter.
The methods and apparatus of the present invention provide the foregoing and other advantages.